The Best Henchman
by Steffie1
Summary: It's Glyde's first day as Mr. Loathe's henchman. What he didn't expect would be that he has to prove himself to be Mr. Loathe's best henchman against the loan shark's former henchman...
1. Henchman or Errand Boy

Characters (c) CAPCOM Story (c) Steffie

Chapter 1: Henchman, or Errand Boy?

Time: The next day, 07:59

Place: Rhyship Island, Mr. Loathe's ship

"Where is he?" Mr. Loathe drummed his fingers against his desk as he waited in impatience for his henchman to arrive.  
"He should be here at any moment, Mr. Loathe." Dr. Madd stated as she stared at her wrist watch.  
"He better be here in time." The crime boss slammed his fist against the desk.

The moment the clock struck 08:00, a petite figure ran into Mr. Loathe's office, along with a small robot that looked like a bird. The person wore dark aquamarine digger armour and a light aquamarine scarf( which was more like a piece of cloth) around his neck. The gloves were black as well. His fringe hung over his one eye, while his hair was restyled. The hair was styled in such a way that it looked like wings of a bird in flight.

"Good morning, Mr. Loathe!" Glyde grinned in happiness as he bowed in courtesy at his boss. His robotic companion looked confused.  
"You're on time. Good." the loan shark sighed in relief. His expression turned into curiosity as he noticed the bird that stood next to his young henchman. The pre-teen noticed his new boss' expression.

"Mr. Loathe, this is Beta. I made him"  
"Quack! I'm a girl, Master Glyde"  
"Of course. Silly me. Heh heh. Anyways, Beta here is a birdbot. She's based on one of those blue-and-yellow robots I saw a few years ago"  
"Ingenious. Can you make more of them"  
"I would if I could. I don't have a factory"  
"I have a factory you could use to mass produce these birdbots. In fact I can give you two more factories for you to mass produce any machinery you've invented"  
"Thank you so much, Mr. Loathe."

"Mr. Loathe?", Dr. Madd whispered in said-person's ear, "Is it wise to give three factories to him? He didn't even prove himself yet"  
"Don't worry, Maddie.", Mr. Loathe whispered back, "Those factories were supposed to be shut down in a week's time, anyways. I won't be losing anything out of this deal"  
"If you say so..." the pink-haired woman sighed in defeat. Glyde, whom had paid attention to Beta at that moment, haven't overheard the conversation between the owner of Loathe Inc and his doctor.

"Mr. Loathe, what shall I be doing today?" "The first thing we'll do, Glyde, would be to fly back to Rhyship Island. Did you park your ride in the garage"  
"Yes, sir. The Glyder's inside the garage"  
"The Glyder, hm? Is it a mecha"  
"Yes, it is"  
"That's good. You would using your mecha alot for your job."

An hour later, Rhyship Island

"We're finally back in Rhyship Island. This where I do my business." Mr. Loathe explained to his new henchman. In his hand was a thick bundle of papers stapled together. The loan shark handed the papers to his underling. They and Maddie both sat by the crime boss' desk.  
"Contract?" Glyde read the title on the first page, and looked at the man that wore a purple business suit in confusion.

"Before you even do your first task for me, you must sign this." Mr. Loathe explained as he gave a ballpoint pen to Glyde.  
"Sounds good enough to me." the pre-teen grinned as he signed his initials on each page that needed them, and his signature on the pages that needed it as well. Lex and Maddie was taken aback the light-brunette didn't even read the contract as he signed. The needle-nosed man also found it strange the young man signed "Glyde"  
in cursive, yet the initials were Y.A.JR. Very peculiar, indeed.

Half an hour later

"Glyde, this would be your first task.", the owner of Loathe Inc. stated as he gestured at a giant sack that was full of envelopes, "You must deliver all these letters today. They're all to remind my clients they're overdue with the I.O.U"  
"...this is my first task"  
"Yes, it is. Why"  
"Er, am I the errand boy"  
"Before I could even trust you with the big tasks, I must give your the smallest ones first. As soon as you show me you're capable of doing the small tasks, you'll be given given the much-more important ones"  
"I understand. Come, Beta."

Much later

Glyde flew in his Glyder; his birdbot Beta as his only companion. Although it was a titanic task, he managed to deliver all the letters to the rightful owners. No one seemed to mind they receive the letters from the innocent-looking young man, but they did mind what was in the envelope they had received. The avian lover didn't give much thought why no one appreciated that his boss gave them letters to say they were way overdue with the I.O.U.

The next day

"Today, you must check on the workers of the factories you own. Make sure they're mass-producing the birdbots and the machinery correctly. Also, everytime you invent a new invention, you must give them the blueprints and the beta version, so that they can mass-produce it perfectly." Glyde read the note his boss left for him. Beta was perched on his shoulder.

The brunette stood in front of one of his factories. It was the birdbot factory. He wiped his fringe out of his face. Worry was evident in his eyes.  
"Let's hope they mass-produced your friends well..." the svelte young man whispered to his avian robot.

Much later, inside the birdbot factory

"What?!" the voice of the underboss of Loathe's screeched in high-pitched horror. His shout was even heard from the outside. What he saw was the one thing he had feared the most. About two-thousand birdbots stood in front of him. Amongst them were the factory workers. The birdbots were a head tall as Beta. They were also more bright in colour. Some were red, green, blue, purple or pink as well. They had a mean look on their face, instead of a child-like expression Beta had. The voices of the birdbots were more deep and gruff as well.

But, even those facts didn't horrify him as much as the biggest mistake the workers had done. The workers had inserted the birdbots' personality chips incorrectly. This had caused them to be disloyal, mean-spirited and two-faced. In fact, they're more like rebellious teenagers than innocent children.

"We're sorry, Mr. Glyde. The machine that implanted the personality chip malfunctioned. Please don't tell Mr. Loathe." one of the factory workers begged as he sat on his knees. The newest staff member of Loathe Inc. peered at the factory worker as he mused what he should do.

After a few minutes, the pre-teen finally spoke.  
"You did make sure different birdbots had different skills, right"  
"Yes, we certainly did"  
"Good. As long as they have their various skills, these birdbots are A-OK, in my hands. Besides, it would be a Hercules task to fix all these birdbots' personality chips, am I right?"

The next two days

Glyde had placed most of the various birdbots in job positions best suited for the skills they had. Some had helped Glyde do various requests and tasks Mr. Loathe and his employees had asked him to do. The birdbot inventor had also designed a birdbot to especially work at the casino Mr. Loathe owned.

Everything had worked like clockwork. Almost.

The next day

"What?!" Lex Loathe seethed in rage as he slammed his metallic fist hard against the table. Dr. Madd, whom had informed him of the bad news, cleared her throat as she repeated the bad news to him.  
"One of your comrades from the GCPD had informed me that Mr. Yukihiko Ayanokoji had told the police that you put diggers and air pirates into so much debt, that they have no choice but to dig for you. He also hinted to them why you want the people, that are in debt, to dig for you."

"Curse it. How did he know? My plan's top secret. Unless--No! It can't be him! Could it"  
"It is possible. Fortunely, your comrade said that they only offer a reward for your arrest. No word about the police trying to barge into this ship to arrest you."

"Good. Oh, Maddie"  
"Yes, Mr. Loathe"  
"Tell Glyde that tomorrow he must go to the Sart Farm for his next task"  
"Will do, sir"  
"Good. Maybe we'll see how well he'll do tomorrow...?"

TO BE CONTINUED... 


	2. Henchman versus Henchboy

Characters (c) CAPCOM Story (c) Steffie

Chapter 2: Henchman versus Henchboy

The next day

The sun had barely rose from the horizon as the Glyder landed on a patch of grass in the Sart Farm. As soon as it had landed, Glyde and his four birdbots leaped out. They were greeted by the farmer.  
"Hello, sir. I'm Mr. Loathe's henchman, and I--" Glyde started before he was given a shovel.  
"Huh?!" the ruby-eyed boy gaped in confusion at the shovel he had held in his hands.

"The stable's in good need of a cleanin'. Put your back into it and work." the farmer stated as he pointed his thumb at the stable behind him.  
"Huh? But, Mr. Loathe said I"  
"Look, kid. Your Tatsukino, Megasu Sutorutosu and the birdbots, the ones that ride the bulldozers, did most of the tasks Mr. Loathe wanted you to do anyways."

And hour later

"Ugh. This job stinks!" Glyde grumbled as he shovelled the last scoop of horse manure away.  
"Keh Keh Keh. What did you expect?" one of the birdbots chuckled.  
"Argh! Shush your beaks! Why aren't you helping me, anyways"  
"We can't hold the shovel. No thumbs." another birdbot stated as she held her wings up high to show her boss what she meant.  
"Oh man, I forgot!" the brunette slapped his forehead. His eyes widened his horror when he noticed what a horse wanted to do.  
"Hey, Don't do that! I just cleaned up!" the manure cleaner shrilled in horror as a horse made a mess just where he had spent the entire hour to clean up.

"How did I get myself into this mess?" Glyde whined as leaned against the shovel. As he had done so, he had lost his balance and fell into the present the horse had given him a moment earlier. Needless to say, the birdbots were grossed out. But, they weren't as grossed out as the stable boy, whom was in tears.

Much later

"Thanks for letting me use your shower, sir." Glyde blushed in sheepishness as he remembered his ordeal. He was also glad the smell was gone as well.  
"Well, you did a...good job. Anyways, you must feed the cows, pigs and horses for me. Here's their food." the farmer smiled as he handed the bags to the young man. The bags were a bit too heavy, which made the slender boy walk skew as he carried the bags.

Three hours later

After he was finally done with the cows and horses, the avian lover( and his birdbots, believe it or not) were busy to give the pigs their feed. The pigs were calm, until something had startled them.  
"Huh? What's wrong?" Glyde blinked in confusion as he stepped back. After a moment, he had heard the cows moo and the horses neigh in panic.

"Glyde!", the farmer called as he barged in where Glyde was, "someone's trying to steal Mr. Loathe's farm animals! Come quick and stop them! They even destroyed all the Tatsukino and Megasu Sutorutosu." "What?! But, how can I stop them? I don't have any weapons on me"  
"Your Glyder's a mecha, right"  
"Yes, but"  
"Go, and stop them!"

The scared pre-teen rushed towards his avian mecha. As soon as he leaped in, he took flight. He flew towards the field where the cattle and horses were. He was stunned when had noticed someone used one truck to load the horses and the other to load the cattle. He also noticed someone seemed to use something to scare the cattle and horses into the trucks, but what?

Glyde landed his Glyder in front of the truck that had cows. "I, Mr. Loathe's henchman, order you to stop stealing the animals right now!!" the brunette pilot barked at the drivers of the trucks. The drivers had worn black ski-masks, which made it difficult to determine who it could be.

"Mr. Dark!", one driver shouted into his walkie talkie, "we're in trouble. It's Mr. Loathe's new henchman"  
"Go on, and drive back to base. I will keep him occupied." Mr. Dark's voice was heard over the walkie talkie.  
"Roger, sir. Thanks, sir"  
"Now go!"

The drivers took a sharp U-turn as they were determined to leave.  
"Hey! I said you must--" Glyde's sentence was cut short when a giant green mecha had, from out of nowhere, landed in front of the Glyder. The legs were shaped like a spider's. The abdomen, too, was shaped like a spider's. The torse had a human, yet alien, shape to it. The head too had this appearance. The arms looked more like metallic gorilla arms, but had spikes at the fingertips.

"Hmm, you must be Mr. Loathe's new henchman.", a deep, arrogant voice echoed from inside the green mecha, "Hello, I'm Mr. Dark. I was Mr. Loathe's henchman before you. So, tell me, what's your name"  
"I-I'm--Glyde. What are you and your men doing stealing your former boss' livestock?" Glyde seethed.  
"We are Mr. Loathe's rival 'company'. That's a good enough reason, right"  
"Hmph. Yeah, right. You must give Mr. Loathe's livestock back now, or else"  
"A challenge, hm? Alright, I accept. Give me your best shot!" Mr. Dark grinned as his mecha's arms suddenly swiped at the Glyder. Thanks to Glyde's fast reaction, the Glyder flew up in the air and wasn't hit.

"Great. He wants a battle, and I don't even have any weapons equipped on the Glyder. I should've known that when Mr. Loathe asked if the Glyder was a mecha, he meant whether or not it could fight..." the henchman heaved in total panic. He noticed his four birdbot companions on the ground below him.

"That's it. I can beacon bomb that mecha, and the birdbots can distract the man while I can find some way to beat him." Glyde thought out loud as he set his target on the giant mecha. He flew close to the birdbots. He was a foot above ground.

"Birdbot, attack Mr. Dark's mecha!" Glyde shouted as he fired a beacon bomb. It exploded as it struck the leg of the arachnic ride of Mr. Dark.  
"Keh Keh Keh. Go do it yourself!" the birdbots squawked in anger.  
"Huh?! But guys, I need your--ARGH! HELP!" the young henchman screamed in horror as the elder henchman blasted a red beam at the Glyder's wing. The effect was immediate, as the Glyder crashed into the ground below like an eagle that lost its ability to use both wings.

As soon as it had landed, the Glyder had turned into a more human-like shape.  
"If I can't fly out of here, I'll run out of here..." the pilot mused as he tried to flee. Before he could even go any further, Mr. Dark's mecha swiped its huge clawed hand down at the Glyder.

A scream of pain was heard from inside the Glyder, then silence...

TO BE CONTINUED... 


	3. I Quit

Characters (c) CAPCOM Story (c) Steffie

Chapter 3: I Quit!

Much later, Dr. Madd's medical ward

"That was a very nasty slash." Dr. Madd grimaced as she bandaged Glyde's left shoulder. Said boy sat on the side of the bed while Dr. Madd sat in a chair next to the boy. The brunette only wore a pair of blue jeans and black boots. On the floor laid his former digger armour and black bodysuit. The digger outfit was made from cheap metal, which was the reason why it hadn't prevented Glyde from the injury he had received from Mr. Dark's mecha.

"It's not that bad." Glyde bragged, before he winced as the doctor touched a particular sore spot.  
"Not bad, hm?", Dr. Madd laughed in sarcasm as she studied the digger outfit. It had a giant slash across the shoulder, "Then how come your digger armour received so much damage"  
"It's more of an outfit, than armour." "You should get yourself proper armour. And, get your Glyder equipped with weapons."

"What do you mean? Why would I need proper armour and my mecha weapons"  
"Er...forget what I've said, Glyde"  
"Madd"  
"Never mind what I've said. I'm just giving advice, as your doctor. Nothing to do with your job. Heh heh"  
"Oh. Okay"  
"You know, you're very lucky. Those claws were an inch close of giving you a haircut from the neck." the doctor smiled in relief. The henchman paled when he had realized how close he was from certain death.

Much later, Mr. Loathe's office

"You allowed them to leave with my livestock?" Mr. Loathe's spoke in a dangerous tone. He eyed his nervous henchman that stood in front of him.  
"I tried my best to stop them, but they got away." Glyde bit his lip as he stared at his injured shoulder from the corner of his eyes.

"Did you at least use your Glyder's weapons against them"  
"I--I didn't have any equipped, sir"  
"!! What was that"  
"I didn't have any weapons equipped in the mecha. Nor did I carry any"  
"You idiot! Don't you know that one of the terms and conditions you had to fulfill would be to have weapons"  
"Why"  
"Your my henchman and underboss. You need weapons"  
"Huh"  
"You need to fight fire with fire. Mafia use weapons to accomplish their goals. "

Glyde's visible eye was wide in horror as his mouth was agape. Mr. Loathe and Dr. Madd's words finally sank in. The entire week had finally made sense as well.  
"I can't believe it. You're actually a crime boss, right? I--I quit! I won't work for you anymore! My daddy was right all along. Good bye, Mr. Loathe. I quit."

"You can't quit. Nor can I fire you"  
"Huh? Why"  
"The contract"  
"What about it?" the brunette whispered as he watched the portly gentleman take the contract out from the drawer. The crime boss flipped through the pages until he found what he had searched for.  
"As long as Mr. Lex Loathe and Glyde are both alive, Glyde may not quit Loathe Inc. Nor may Mr. Loathe Loathe fire Glyde"  
"Wha"  
"See why you must always read the fine print, or in your case, read the entire contract?"

"..." Glyde rubbed his sore shoulder as he felt his nerves on edge.  
"As you can see, I can't fire you; despite the fact you really did disappoint me with your very first real task I had given you"  
"What can I do now"  
"Try and get the livestock back from Mr. Dark, or don't bother. Your choice."

Later, outside of Dr. Madd's medical bay

"I can't believe Mr. Loathe was so...upset with me. I didn't expect those thieves to appear from nowhere." Glyde huffed as he sat cross-armed. Dr. Madd sat in the chair next to the youth.  
"But, Mr. Loathe had expected you to succeed. He knew you had it within yourself to defeat the thieves. He's just disappointed that you didn't live up to his expectations." Dr. Madd cooed as she rested her hand on Glyde's uninjured shoulder.

"Really?" the young henchman's facial expression lit up at the words of the lady. Nothing else seemed to have mattered, not even the fact his boss happened to be a mafia crime boss. It was as if the little praise had brainwashed him.  
"Yes, he sure had lots of faith in you." Maddie gave the brunette a kind smile.  
"That settles it. I shall get the livestock back for Mr. Loathe, even if it's the last thing I shall do. If he believed in me, I should believe in myself"  
"That's the spirit. Good luck, kiddo."

Glyde had spent a week to prepare himself for the rematch with the arrogant Mr. Dark. He had returned back to his home. He had rebuilt the Glyder, and had equipped it with various weaponry. With the help of experts, he had built a special kind of bodysuit. Although it was skintight and a bit on the uncomfortable side, it was meant to be a psuedo second armour. He had also built himself, with the help of experts, digger armour that was made with special metal that made it flexible and durable.

A week later, Mr. Loathe's garage

"Master Glyde!" Beta shouted as she ran up to her master, whom was busy to polish the Glyder. She held a piece of paper in both her wings.  
"Hm?" the svelte man mused as he took the paper from his most loyal birdbot. "What does it say"  
"To Glyde: If you want to retrieve the cows and horses from us, you must come see at the Sart Farm at 10:00 today. Only bring yourself and your mecha. From: Mr. Dark."

Glyde only grinned in bemusement as he stared at the face of the clock on Mr. Loathe's garage. It read 09:25

TO BE CONTINUED... 


	4. Rematch

Characters (c) CAPCOM Story (c) Steffie

Chapter 4: Rematch!

Sart Farm, 10:00

The Glyder landed on the grass patch that was close to the place Glyde had fought with Mr. Dark the previous time. The young henchman had climbed out of his mecha. He had worn his brown-and-gold armour and black bodysuit. His hair was trimmed short, but his fringe still long and over his one eye.

"Hmm. Guess he chickened out." Glyde mused as he studied his surroundings.  
"Guess again." a cocky voice boomed from behind. The brunette second-in-command whipped his head around to face the owner of the voice. His visible eye was as wide as a saucer as he saw a man that was three feet as tall as himself. The man had black, unruly hair that ended at his shoulder blades. He had brown eyes, which were almost black. He wore a wine-purple and wine-red digger armour. He also had a tanned skin, which looked very dark against Glyde's sun-shy complexion.

"Mr. Dark, I presume?" Glyde spoke after he had finally found his voice. He had noticed two trucks, the same ones that had transported the stolen livestock. He noticed that there were no one. The black-haired henchman's mecha was parked next to the trucks.  
"Yes, I am. Oh, I had told the drivers of the truck to leave"  
"Good. No one came with me either."

"Y'know, I did expect you to be a bit...taller. And female." Mr. Dark mused.  
"I'm still very young." Glyde protested.  
"Good. For a moment there, I thought I abused a poor girl"  
"Hey"  
"So, we shall have this rematch. The winner shall keep the livestock." the elder man pointed his thumb at the trucks behind him.  
"Ho ho ho. Good enough for me. May the best man win."

Both henchman and henchboy leaped into their own mecha. Mr. Dark made his Chakra mecha leap right in front of the Glyder.  
"Any handicaps you want me to give you?" Mr. Dark's deep voice asked in mock sincerity.  
"Well, my shoulder's fully healed, so I might have to give you a handicap, right?" Glyde grinned as his mecha transformed in a more human-like shape. His mecha's head was at level with the Chakra's shoulders.

"Battle rematch start!" both henchmen shouted as they charged at one another. The Chakra tried to ram itself into the Glyder, but it had leaped into the air. As it landed, it caused a powerful shockwave. The Glyder dashed towards the Chakra and gave it a double wing sabre slash. The Chakra slashed its claws at the Glyder. It sliced into the armour and caused awful damage against the shoulder of the Glyder.

"Ack!" Glyde gasped as he realized how close the claws were to his own body. He silently wished he had equipped his pride and joy with a more hard body. Why was he so stupid to sacrifice defence for speed? Before he could react, the Chakra sliced the wing off, before it dug its claws into the torso of the Glyder; the exact place where the pilot seat was situated. It was over.

"I'm very disappointed in you. I mean, Mr. Loathe only chooses the best. If you're the best, then I'm not impressed. Oh well. Guess Mr. Loathe shall lose his prized cattle and horses?" Mr. Dark chuckled as he noticed his rival didn't even move once. He let his guard down when he realized he had won. He hadn't notice a sound of lasers charging up.

"Ultimate Glyde Laser!" a feminine screech pierced the silence as it had pierced through the thick armour of the Chakra. It had missed the elder henchman's body by a hair's width.  
"Wha"  
"Ho Ho Ho. Haven't you ever hear of 'Playing Possum'? And of studying your enemy's attack pattern?" "But"  
"Also, your arrogance meant you let yourself open to attack"  
"I-I-I surrender." the deep voice admitted defeat.

Much later

Glyde had let the cows and horses free from the trucks. They ran safely back to the Sart Farm. While he noticed the victor hadn't paid attention, Mr. Dark had escaped.

Much later, Mr. Loathe's office

"You did very well, Glyde. You retrieved all my livestock, and you even defeated my former henchman. You have proven yourself worthy of my more dangerous tasks for you." Lex Loathe shook his victorious henchman's hand as he praised him.  
"Thank you so much, Mr. Loathe. I will never let you down again." Glyde promised.  
"Good. You are dismissed"  
"Thank you, sir." Glyde bowed as he left.

"It's very out-of-character for Miyabi Dark to simply admit defeat after he meets his match. He would usually fight to the death." Dr. Madd mused as she stepped out of the shadows.  
"Which is why I believed he staged the livestock stealing just to test Glyde out. He would be better prepared for next time. I sure hope Glyde would be too."

Three years later

"Hello, I'm here to see Mr. Loathe about a loan"  
"Ah yes. Mr. Loathe had informed me you made a booking to see him. Follow me, please." Glyde gestured as he lead the tall man through the passage towards Mr. Loathe's office.  
"I never knew a person must make a booking just to see someone to make a loan"  
"We were so busy this past three months, that's the only way for Mr. Loathe to handle the pressure."

"Right, here we are." Glyde stated as he opened the door of Mr. Loathe's office. The gentleman followed him to Mr. Loathe's desk. Glyde sat in the chair next to Mr. Loathe's, as a witness. Mr. Loathe's new client sat in the chair opposite of Mr. Loathe and Glyde.

"Mr. Loathe, this is our new client. His name is Teisel Bonne."

THE END 


End file.
